Caddickisms

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve recently reconnected with a lot of friends from my high school youth group through the wonders of Facebook. It’s been a lot of fun. There are now over 40 of us, and over 150 pictures, many of which are proof that the 80’s should never return.

But all of those pictures are of teenagers having fun - even the couple that show us in serious mode in Bible studies. We were enjoying learning how to apply the Bible to our lives, and simply being with each other. But most of the pictures are of someone doing something odd or funny (there are a surprisingly high number of cross-dressing photos… almost all of which were part of skits). We had a lot of fun.

Predictably, this has had me reminiscing a lot about those days, and about what it felt like to be a teenager. It’s been a long time and I don’t think about it often. When I do, it’s usually the moments that make me cringe that come to mind. But in truth, it’s a mixed bag of experiences: awkwardness, isolation, triumph, and togetherness all collide in both messy and wonderful ways. I remember the excitement of what it felt like to have a crush on someone, yet be unable to act on it because of fear. I remember feeling inferior in every athletic experience I had (because I usually was), yet thrilled when I somehow pulled it all together to win a game against the top player or be a useful part of a winning play. I remember feeling completely alone in a crowd, until someone caught my eye and genuinely smiled, happy to see me.

Now I’m a father, and in my mind’s eye I’m watching my two daughters grow up to be teenagers. Right now they are two and three years old. They’re playing in the park with their friends. It struck me today that it’s likely that at least some of these same friends will still be around when they reach their teen years. In ten years, will they have a crush on one of the boys they’re playing with now? Will those friends feed or starve their sense of self-worth? Will they be sure enough of themselves to have fun acting goofy, or will they be too worried about what others will think?

Will they want to spend any time with me?

I’m getting ahead of myself. I know that. I can actually influence a lot of those situations with what I teach my girls and how I treat them. I look at those pictures on Facebook and I pray that my daughters will grow up to have the quality of friends and fun that I had.

Related posts

• I have a problem with Facebook, and it’s Walt’s fault (6)
• What I’ve been thinking (0)
• Things overheard in my house lately (0)
• Star Wars: A Cute Hope (0)
• Little Mommy drops the… um… ball (5)

I joined Facebook almost a year ago, if I remember correctly. I joined as an exercise for work. I was hearing a lot about how Facebook and similar social networking tools could be used within a corporation as a learning and collaboration tool. I understood the theory, but I wanted to see how well it was implemented. Could I really figure out some way to bend it to fit our corporate environment? The answer, I swiftly realized, was “no.”

So my profile sat there. I checked in on it every once in a while, connected with a couple online acquaintances and colleagues, and looked at some of the applications to see if anything struck me as useful. Every once in a while I’d see something intriguing, but nothing that I wanted to spend much time with.

Connecting with a few friends from church spurred some activity. It was fun to learn a little more about their lives as they chose to summarize it in their profiles. But for the most part, I spent my free time on other projects.

Then Walt showed up.

Walt led the church youth group I was in during high school. He also has an amazing talent for keeping in touch with people. When he created the Facebook group for our old youth group members (and yes, I mean old… it’s been 20+ years, sadly), I joined. By the end of that week, I was catching up with 25 people I haven’t seen in 20 years. Then the photos showed up. Photos like this one (those are approximately 20 marshmallows in each mouth):

I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. I’m talking to people I haven’t seen in decades, and it’s like I just spoke to them yesterday; we’re picking up right where we left off. The group is continuing to grow.

Now I have a problem. I’m spending all my time on Facebook. I’m constantly checking to see who else has joined, or what photos have been uploaded, or what comments people are making. It’s getting out of hand. I gotta step away, or I’m not going to get anything else done. The lawn’s not going to mow itself!

It’s a lot of fun, though. This is a group of people I genuinely care about and have missed (as opposed to almost everyone else I knew in high school).

Hey, Walt… thanks for the new addiction. I sincerely appreciate it. My wife would like to thank you, too… next time you see her, guard your shins.

Related posts

• Facebook points to the past, and I consider the future (0)
• Wiki’s in a corporate environment (1)
• What I’ve been thinking (0)
• Training vs. Learning (0)
• Tips from CommonCraft (0)